Know-how ought to profit humanity. Some of the exceptional examples of know-how’s potential to offer enduring advantages is the Itaipu Hydroelectric Dam, an enormous binational vitality challenge between Brazil and Paraguay. Constructed on the Paraná River, which varieties a part of the border between the 2 nations, Itaipu reworked a once-contested hydroelectric useful resource right into a shared engine of financial progress.
The energy plant has held many information. For many years, it was the world’s largest hydroelectric facility; the dam spans the river’s 7.9-kilometer width and reaches a top of 196 meters.Itaipu was additionally the primary hydropower plant to generate greater than 100 terawatt hours of electrical energy in a yr.
To acknowledge Itaipu’s monumental engineering achievement, on 4 March the dam was acknowledged as an IEEE Milestone throughout a ceremony in Hernandarias, Paraguay. The ceremony commemorated the challenge’s influence on engineering and vitality manufacturing.
Itaipu’s large scale
By the late Nineteen Sixties, Brazil and Paraguay acknowledged the Paraná River’s untapped hydroelectric potential, based on the World Infrastructure Hub. Brazil, which was present process speedy industrialization, sought a steady, renewable vitality supply to cut back its dependence on fossil fuels. In the meantime, Paraguay, missing the monetary assets to assemble a gigawatt-scale hydroelectric facility independently, entered right into a treaty with Brazil in 1973. The settlement granted each nations equal possession of the dam and its energy technology.
Building started in 1975 and was accomplished in 1984, costing US $19.6 billion. The dimensions of the challenge was staggering. Engineers excavated 50 million cubic meters of earth and rock, poured 12.3 million cubic meters of concrete, and used sufficient iron and metal to assemble 380 Eiffel Towers.
Itaipu was designed for steady growth. It initially launched with two 700-megawatt turbine models, offering 1.4 gigawatts of capability. By 1991, the energy plant reached its deliberate 12.6 GW capability. In 2006 and 2007, it was expanded to 14 GW with the addition of two extra models, for a complete of 20. Though China’s 22.5-GW Three Gorges Dam, on the Yangtze River close to the town of Yichang, surpassed Itaipu’s capability in 2012, the South American dam stays one of many world’s best hydroelectric amenities.
On common, Itaipu generates round 90 terawatt-hours of electrical energy yearly. It set a file by producing 103.1 TWh in 2016 (surpassed in 2020 by Three Gorges’ 111.8-TWh output). To place 100 TWh into perspective, an influence plant would want to burn roughly 50 million tonnes of coal to supply the identical quantity of vitality, based on the U.S. Power Data Administration.
By harnessing 62,200 cubic meters of river water per second, Itaipu prevents the discharge of practically 100 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year. Throughout its 40-year lifetime, the dam has generated greater than 3,000 TWh of electrical energy, assembly practically 90 p.c of Paraguay’s vitality wants and contributing roughly 10 p.c of Brazil’s electrical energy provide.
Itaipu’s legacy endures as a testomony to the advantages of worldwide cooperation and sustainable vitality and to the ability of engineering to form the longer term.
IEEE recognition for Itaipu
The IEEE Milestone commemorative plaque, now displayed within the dam’s customer heart, highlights Itaipu’s function as a world chief in hydroelectric energy technology. It reads:
“Itaipu energy plant building started in 1975 as a joint Brazil-Paraguay enterprise. When energy technology began in 1984, Itaipu set a world file for the one largest put in hydroelectric capability (14 GW). For no less than three many years, Itaipu produced extra electrical energy yearly than another hydroelectric challenge. Linking energy crops, substations, and transmission strains in each Brazil and Paraguay, Itaipu’s system supplied dependable, reasonably priced vitality to customers and trade.”
Administered by the IEEE Historical past Middle and supported by donors, the Milestone program acknowledges excellent technical developments worldwide. The IEEE Paraguay Part sponsored the nomination.
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